Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Shares Bought by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) by 124.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 56,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 31,000 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Merus were worth $1,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. RTW Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 90.0% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,084,000 after acquiring an additional 945,871 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,358,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 167,818 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,957,000 after acquiring an additional 86,512 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 93,354 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,201,000 after acquiring an additional 28,400 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merus by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 774,953 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,273,000 after acquiring an additional 180,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRUS. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $48.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Merus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Merus from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merus currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.50.

Merus Price Performance

Shares of MRUS opened at $41.85 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $44.85 and its 200-day moving average is $32.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.77 and a beta of 1.10. Merus has a 12-month low of $18.21 and a 12-month high of $52.03.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $8.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.43 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 50.61% and a negative net margin of 352.56%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merus will post -3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merus Company Profile

Merus N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, engages in the development of antibody therapeutics in the Netherlands. Its bispecific antibody candidate pipeline includes Zenocutuzumab (MCLA-128), which is in a phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors that harbor Neuregulin 1.